583 
royal Veterinary college. 
great as the drain on the system may be, but on the amount of structural 
change and diseased function of the liver itself. 
Persons have spoken of a security which they see in the life-history ot 
the fluke, as influencing its indwelling within the biliary ducts, which 
they believe to be short. Our knowledge on a point of this kind is at 
present too limited to enable us to fix the period of the life of flukes ; 
but it is not too much to suppose that this may be prolonged or other¬ 
wise by the quality of the bile on which the entozoa live—if fairly good, 
they would longer survive than if the opposite conditions of the fluid 
existed. 
It may thus be seen that the very means which have led to the ewes 
passing through their lambing in a satisfactory manner, are those which 
would preserve the function of the liver in a fairly healthy state for a 
longer time than usual, and thus they would become the cause of an 
increased indwelling of the flukes, and probably also would produce a 
prolonged life of the entozoa. 
ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE. 
FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT UNDER THE ROYAL CHARTER 
OF INCORPORATION, ORDERED BY THE GOVER¬ 
NORS OF THE COLLEGE TO BE PRESENTED TO THE 
SUBSCRIBERS. 
General Government. 
No alterations have been made during the past year in the Bye-laws 
and Regulations relating to the Government of the Institution, those at 
present in force having been found to work satisfactorily. 
By the death of his Grace the late Duke of Portland, a vacancy has 
occurred in the list of Vice-Presidents, and the number of Governors is 
still incomplete. The election to these officers is in the hands of those 
Subscribers who are qualified to vote at all General Meetings. 
In October last, Mr. G. D. Whatman resigned the Chairmanship of 
the General Purposes Committee, which he had held for upwards of 
four years, and Sir C. S. Paul Hunter, Bart., was elected to the 
vacant post. 
According to instructions a short resume of the proceedings of the 
Quarterly Meeting of the Committee has been forwarded to the leading 
daily papers, and to the Principal Veterinary and Agricultural Journals. 
Education. 
It has been found expedient that certain alterations in the Regula¬ 
tions should be made, which will enable the Governors to better regulate 
the attendance and conduct of the Students. These alterations have 
been submitted to the Quarterly Meeting of the General Purposes 
Committee, and will in due course come into operation. 
No alteration has been made since July last in the subjects for the 
Matriculation Examination, it will, however, be seen from the statistics 
herein given that the reduction in the number of Students entering the 
College still continues. 
The “Cheap Practice” has been regularly carried out during the 
year, and the number of cases treated shows a considerable and con¬ 
tinuous increase since its institution in May, 1879. The attendance of 
